Everything I Dreamed it Would Be
by fantasylands
Summary: A collection of R/E oneshots, mainly post-movie. *** She beamed at the guards outside his room, many more than outside hers, she noted. They glanced at each other with knowing smirks, familiar with this game the princess played with the ex-thief.
1. Flowers

Whoo! First Tangled fic! :) I loveloveloveloved this movie. I've been following it since it was Rapunzel Unbraided and featured Kristin Chenoweth as a talking squirrel. Disney has done a fantastic job on its more recent films, mainly Tangled and Princess and the Frog. This'll be a series of oneshots. I'll add 'em as I come up with 'em!

_Flowers_

The air was fragrant, accented with everything from the boldest of roses to the lightest of lilies. Every tangible color, it seemed, was represented here. Rapunzel took another whiff and tightened her fingers around Eugene's. She must come out here to paint soon, although she wasn't sure she had a sufficient amount of pigments to represent all the flowers properly. The royal gardens were nothing like she had ever seen before. Beyond the potted flowers upon her windowsill and the small variety of wildflowers that grew in the tower valley, up until last week, she hadn't known anything like this could -or did- exist. As the pair passed a grassy knoll, Rapunzel paused.

"Something wrong?" Eugene questioned her sudden halt.

Rapunzel wiggled her toes within her bejeweled shoes ('only the best for a princess,' her mother had said). She glanced at the hill, dotted here and there with small blue and yellow blooms. "O-oh. Sorry. I'm fine..."

They continued along the path at a slower pace than before, neither saying anything. Rapunzel released her hold of Eugene's hand in favor of walking behind him. She bent slightly to take in a whiff of the roses that enclosed the incline. Never had anything smelled sweeter. Rapunzel liked flowers. Her mo- Gothel had once brought her some wildflowers that Rapunzel had taken to tending to in her one and only window. So many times she would look out that window and dream, dream of seeing what was beyond the valley. On cold days, she would go to the sill and stretch her arms up, raising her face to the sun and taking in its warmth, as if she herself were a flower. Gothel had called her that.

Rapunzel snapped back into reality.

Eugene trudged along the gravel pathway, headed towards an overhang of trees. He wasn't quite used to walking on walkways, having made his own paths during the later half of his life. Flynn Rider didn't make use of roads, instead, he used the land to his advantage. He wasn't told where to go; he decided for himself. But he wasn't Flynn Rider now, he was Eugene Fitzherbert, and Eugene Fitzherbert stayed on pathways just like any royal courtier would. He shifted his head slightly back to speak.

"You're being _unusually_ quiet, princess..." He emphasized the word _unusually_ because, well, normally he couldn't get her to shut up. But he eventually learned to love her incessant rambling, and actually had grown rather fond of it.

No answer.

Eugene circled around. "Rapunzel?"

He caught sight of her. ... What on earth was she doing? Boots crunching along the gravel, he went to get a better look.

"What on earth are you doing?"

Rapunzel continued twirling, the flowers in her hair flashing their colors at Eugene. "What does it look like I'm doing?" She questioned, smiling.

Eugene let out a chuckle. "It _looks_ like you're spinning about like a madwoman." He took a step closer and tripped a little. He knelt and picked up a glittering slipper. He laughed again. "A _shoeless_ madwoman."

"I'm dancing!"

"How in the heck is it that you managed to whip off your shoes, climb over the rose hedges, cram a million flowers into your hair, and start flailing around in two minutes flat without me even noticing?"

Rapunzel stuck her tongue out at Eugene, who was playfully taken aback. "Maybe you should be more observant."

"Well, I-" Eugene began.

"Come dance with me," Rapunzel interrupted.

"Pardon?"

"Come dance with me," she repeated, holding a hand out.

He waved his hands in front of his chest in denial. "_Oh_ no, no, no. We've been over this. Flynn Rider doesn't do dancing."

Rapunzel didn't lower her hand. "But you're Eugene Fitzherbert," she stated simply. "_He_ dances, right?" She gave him a knowing smirk.

"I suppose he could..." He smirked back. "For you." Eugene winked, a bit of Flynn coming out.

He heaved himself over the rosebushes, being careful of the thorns. Feigning a sigh, he reached out to take a hold of Rapunzel's hand, but she jerked it back, surprising him.

Rapunzel waved a finger back and forth. "Ah ah ah," she clucked. She then used the same finger to point down at Eugene's boots. Those have gotta go."

"What?" Eugene asked confusedly. "Why?"

"It's not the same if you can't feel the grass under your feet," Rapunzel pointed out.

The first time she had felt grass was when she left her tower with Flynn. The grass in the tower valley had been cool and slightly prickly, and also a bit sparse. Here it was warm and thick, and soft as a kitten's breath.

"My feet stink."

Rapunzel giggled to herself, knowing that he was just trying to excuse himself. "The smell of the flowers will cover it! And if they stink, then they need to be aired out!" She laughed again, amused.

"My feet are ugly. And I need to trim my toenails."

Rapunzel let out another laugh. "Gross, Eugene! Come on, you know I don't care." She looked at him pleadingly, her jade green eyes shining at him. "_Please?"_

Throwing his hands up in the air, Eugene exclaimed, "Oh, all right!"

Rapunzel let out an excited squeak and went back to flailing while Eugene sat on the ground and began to remove his boots. He took one off. How did she do this to him? A week ago, he would have said 'no way', turned on his heel, and left. Eugene pulled off his other boot, setting it down next to its brother. He grabbed a sock and pulled. I mean, who was the charming one here? _She_ had charmed _him_ into giving her what she wanted. Not that it was a large price. Maybe just his dignity. He removed the second sock and stood up.

Eugene cleared his throat. Rapunzel continued to thrash about, waving her arms and jumping. He cleared his throat again, louder, and she stopped. Rapunzel flashed him a brilliant smile and once again offered him her hand. He took it, bracing himself for the sudden jerk she gave his arm. Rapunzel began to twirl around, taking him with her.

"Wave your arms!" she said. He complied. Yup, dignity gone.

"So," -he hopped- "why are we - doing this?" he asked between breaths.

"Eugene," she began, "You've lived in this world your _whole life_. Well... maybe not _this_ world," she waved an arm, indicating the palace, "but one with grass and leaves and flowers and a million smells." She didn't stop dancing while she was talking. "I only arrived in it a week ago! Do you know how long I dreamt of feeling grass?

"All right, so you've never danced barefoot in the grass before. Why are you making _me_?" Eugene quipped.

Rapunzel tightened her grip on his hand. "Because I don't think you ever have, either." They stopped frolicking for a moment. Rapunzel reached into her hair and pulled out a bluish bellflower, a campanula. She reached her fingers up and set the flower into Eugene's hair. Eugene extended a hand to touch it, then smiled. He wrapped his arms about her waist and pulled her closer, resting his forehead upon hers.

"Thanks," he said, and gave her a kiss on her brow.

Rapunzel looked down. He hadn't been lying about his toenails.

• • •

A/N: Rapunzel is SUCH a hippie. XD She has insanely long hair, loves flowers, she's artistic, and calms a bunch of ruffians and keeps them from starting a fight. Not to mention her 'I want' song is based off of a Joni Mitchell song. Total hippie, RIGHT?

A couple of subtle things:

LOL Rapunzel stopped and smelled the roses. xD

A campanula is a rapunzel flower, and was Rapunzel's namesake in the original fairytale. It looks like this: tinyurl .com/243pnuk

This is sorta how I picture the royal gardens: google .com/images?q=butchart+gardens

And if you've ever been to Brighton Palace in Brighton, England, imagine the gardens there too.


	2. Thief

Sorry it's been a while, but Tangled stuff is sorta hard for me to write. D: Princess and the Frog stuff comes wayyyy more naturally to me, and I'm not sure why. I'm having trouble coming up with story ideas for Tangled. :(

_Thief_

It wasn't easy, no, not easy at all, to go from thief to palace dweller within mere days. For Flynn Rider to once again become Eugene Fitzherbert, it would mean attempting to reverse years and years of slowly and meticulously developed habits and personality traits. Eugene Fitzherbert, an ordinary nobody, really, had truly become Flynn Rider, dashing thief extraordinaire. Because he had erased so many bits and pieces of his former self, the rebuilding of his personality was a bit haphazardly done. Eugene was not quite sure if he really _was_ his former self, or possibly a third, new person entirely. Either way, putting Flynn Rider, the man he had been for years, behind him was a daunting task. He could not help but jump when a palace guard came suddenly into view, perhaps from around a corner or through a door. And that familiar twitch in his fingers prevailed ever so often, as was expected in a thief surrounded by hundreds of priceless objects.

The first time Eugene had been inside the palace, he had been Flynn, and had been up to his usual, thieving tricks. He had also only seen one cavernous and largely empty room. He had had no idea at the time of the vastness of the conglomeration of expensive artifacts and fine artworks tucked away into each and every nook and cranny of the castle. And now, he discovered more and more of these valuables each day, as he stumbled upon new and unexplored chambers. The twitch, twitch, twitching in his digits went crazy as he spied vases of inlaid gold, jewel-encrusted tapestries, and platinum-edged mirrors at every turn.

He knew he had to shake the habit. He was so used to taking what he wanted for himself, no matter what it was. But these priceless possessions... He could not bear to even think about stealing them, for they indirectly belonged to Rapunzel, and he would steal from himself, were that at all possible, before stealing from her. And though Rapunzel had no knowledge of the social infractions of thieving, Eugene was determined to turn himself around, for her sake and for the sake of her reputation. But, lord above, he couldn't stop his fingers! They had a mind of their own. It was completely involuntary, and happened whenever he saw something he desired for himself. If he wanted something all for himself, even subconsciously, his fingers would tell him so, no matter how hard he tried to subdue them.

• • •

This day, Rapunzel had taken Maximus and ridden off to explore the forest, and Eugene had taken to poking about the palace for previously uninvestigated areas. It had been three hours since Rapunzel left, and Eugene had counted seven priceless paintings, fifteen candelabras of varying values of metals, and one something-or-another that he thought looked rather akin to diamond-encrusted moose antlers. He was vaguely reminded of the pub he and Rapunzel had once visited, but the thought was shaken out of his head by the sound of muffled trumpeting coming from the majestic wooden doors to his immediate left.

Upon cracking a door and peeking inside, he quickly recognized the room he was looking into as the entrance hall. Eugene looked about for the source of the cacophony, only to realize that the blaring trumpets must have been outside, on the grand terrace. Attempting to fine-tune his hearing, he managed to catch the voice of the Grand Duke announcing the arrival of...

"Achoo!" Eugene sneezed, and then he heard a loud roar of applause. He decided that it must be a relative of the royal family, perhaps a twice-removed cousin, and promptly forgot about it.

• • •

At lunchtime, Eugene had hoped to see Rapunzel, but was told upon his arrival in the dining hall that she was still out with Max. Sighing, he looked to his left and saw the king and queen sitting at their usual places on one end of the impossibly long table. He had never eaten alone with the royal couple before, and began to turn to leave, but they had already spotted him, and he ruled that exiting was strictly out of the question now. Eugene took his place at the opposite head of the table, next to where Rapunzel normally would sit. He silently cursed every time he had ever been annoyed by her, as her presence was his deepest wish at the moment.

Time passed slowly, and Eugene picked away at... Whatever the fancy-schmancy stuff on his plate was. Surely, he thought, he must have been here for hours. He shifted his gaze to the ornate grandfather clock in the far right corner. He had been sitting for precisely two minutes. The king and queen chewed quietly, or, at least, Eugene _assumed_ they were chewing, as they were such a great distance away, he had to squint to fully perceive their faces. He poked his gold plated fork into something he hoped was meat.

In a sudden rush of air, the entryway doors suddenly burst open. Turning his head and opening his mouth to greet Rapunzel, Eugene found that it was actually not Rapunzel at all. In fact, this new person was not even female. He was dressed as richly as the king and queen, perhaps richer, in silken shades of red and gold. He had a full head of thick black hair, and his boots were so polished, they practically melted away into the floor.

"I apologize for my tardiness," he began. "I could find no one to give me directions, and I am afraid I became rather lost..."

The king laughed, small, but hearty. "That is all right, my boy. Come, Prince Alden, have a seat." He gestured to the only empty chair: Rapunzel's.

Eugene suddenly felt angry compunction at not having chosen finer clothing to wear that day. The king and queen had provided him with an entire new wardrobe of exceedingly elegant apparel, though he had always chosen the plainest items to wear. He was not an exceedingly elegant man, but next to this peacock prince, Eugene felt even more exceedingly simple than usual. His only comfort was that he was far more rugged than this flamboyant man could ever hope to be. Who was this prince guy, anyway? _Was_ he family, as Eugene had first written him off as?

Seeing Eugene's state of perplexion, the queen cleared her throat and explained, "Eugene, this is Prince Alden. He hails from the country of Imbria. He is the younger brother of their crown prince, Radley. Perhaps you have heard of him?"

Eugene's expression soured, as he bluntly stated, "No, your majesty. I haven't."

"And Prince Alden," the king started, "This is-"

"But where is the lovely princess?" the prince inquired. "Word of her beauty has reached even my faraway kingdom, and I had hoped to see her for myself."

At this point, Eugene turned began to turn a rather undistinguished shade of burgundy and clenched his palms. "Pardon me, your highnesses," he muttered, and pushed his chair back. He left the hall without a word, leaving a stunned silence in his wake.

• • •

Skulking back to his bedchamber, he was a mess of fuming... Something. Not jealousy. Never jealousy. Flynn Rider was jealous of no one, and everyone was jealous of Flynn Rider. He was so blind with whatever emotion it was that he almost missed the swish of light turquoise fabric rounding the corner in front of him.

He heard someone bounding over to him, and then a happy cry of "Eugene!", followed by a pair of lips pressed against his cheek. His heart leapt at the voice, and his arms came automatically around Rapunzel's waist.

"Oh my gosh, you don't look so good," Rapunzel frowned, placing a hand on his cheek. "And your hands are shaking..."

The twitch. The twitch he fought so hard to control... This was the most violent it had ever been, in all the years it had been happening to him. He wanted to steal Rapunzel. He wanted to steal her away and keep her for himself. Her warmth, her vivacity, her naivety, her kindness... He wanted _her_, and he didn't want anyone else to have her. By this time, Eugene's face was pale, and Pascal, perched atop Rapunzel's shoulder, chose to jump over to the crook of Eugene's neck and mirror the shade.

"I'm fine," he said, and tightened the embrace, clutching her to him.

Rapunzel threaded her fingers through the hair on the back of his head. "Are you sure?" She started to say, "Because I-"

"I love you," he blurted, and Rapunzel's mouth fell agape.

This wasn't the first time he had said it, no, but the sheer passion with which he uttered the words... She had never heard him say anything that way. Pascal changed to a bright crimson. It took all the strength she had in her small frame to pull back so she could look straight into his eyes.

"Eugene..." She said. "Do you wanna maybe talk?"

"Yeah," he admitted, putting a hand to his head in slight embarrassment, "I think I do..."

Taking him by the hand, Rapunzel began to lead him away. Hearing only the click-clack of his boots on the marble floor, Eugene looked down and saw that she was barefoot. He loved that. His gaze moved up to her face. Rapunzel's mouth was moving, probably telling him of today's adventures, but he couldn't hear her words. Eugene studied each freckle upon her face, loving each one more than the last.

"-the biggest apples I had ever SEEN! Maximus must have eaten twenty sev-" He heard her say.

Her hair bounced when she walked. He truly did like the color - blonde was a bit too gaudy for his tastes.

"So then I said, 'I never knew foxes could run that fast!' "

The curve of her lips; the soft rose color, the slight lisp she didn't know she had...

"**DAISIES!**"

The way she became easily overexcited.

He loved all these things and more about her, and wanted to share these treasures with no one. In his hazy state of mind, he could almost see the reasoning behind Gothel's imprisonment.

"- but it all worked out in the end, because I found some pretty white rocks."

Rapunzel stopped suddenly, and Eugene saw that they were standing in the corridor outside Rapunzel's bedchamber. She pushed the door open with her free hand and pulled him inside. Eugene had been in her room few enough times. He thought it would look kind of improper to spend a lot of time there, and he wanted more than anything to be in the good favor of Rapunzel's parents. He _did_ notice that there seemed to be a small number of new paintings on her wall since last time, and felt a small solace in the fact that some of them were of his likeness.

Rapunzel released his hand and seated herself upon the embroidered settee at the food of her bed. She patted the space next to her, and he sat.

"Pascal, would you give us some privacy?" she asked her chameleon friend. He complied, in a rather upset way, a tinge of blue lacing his natural green as he waddled away into a connecting room.

"Now," she said, taking a large, calloused hand in one of her small, delicate ones, "You've heard all about my day..." She ran the back of her index finger along his cheek, cocked her head to the side, and frowned. "So what happened in yours?"

Eugene sucked in a breath and attempted to muster up any small amount of courage he might have had left over from Flynn Rider. "Rapunzel... Why do you love me?"

Rapunzel lifted an eyebrow in confusion and slight amusement. "Eugene.. What kind of question is that?" She almost laughed.

"Rapunzel, really. Why me? I mean, you're a princess. I'm a _thief_. I'm kind of at the bottom of the totem pole here."

"I didn't know I was a princess until I already loved you," Rapunzel pointed out. "Not that it would matter." She placed a hand under his chin and turned his head up. The hair on his chin tickled her fingers and she half-smiled. "Do you love me because I'm a princess?"

Eugene's amber eyes darkened. "No, of course not," he said.

"And I don't love you because you're a thief; I love you because you're Eugene." Her half-smile widened and became full.

She kissed him, and as he kissed her back, he felt waves of peace wash over him. The world never felt more right than when his lips were on hers.

He sighed as it ended, once more taking on a sober expression. "But Rapunzel... Other people love you because you're a princess."

"Eugene, what-"

"Princesses have suitors. Highborn suitors. Kings, princes... I don't know, dukes... You're gonna have so many men after you, and you could have your choice of any of them."

This time Rapunzel laughed. "Eugene! You really think I'd ever fall for some Prince Fancypants or Sir Dronesalot? Yes, I'm a princess, but you know I didn't grow up as one. All those guys are so boring and stuffy!" Rapunzel wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. "You showed me the world I dreamed about my whole life. You're brave and adventurous, just like I always wanted to be."

Eugene embraced her easily. "All right," he said, "I can't keep the truth from you, Blondie." He felt her smile at the use of the old nickname. "There's this prince guy. Showed up today and made a big hoopla over himself. He wants to woo you."

" _'Woo' _me?" Rapunzel sounded confused, and a bit muffled from speaking into his vest.

"Yeah, y'know... Bring you lots of fancy stuff, make you like him."

Rapunzel clucked her tongue and pulled away from his chest to look at his face, which now only looked slightly worried. "I had only three books in my tower, Eugene, and I was happy." She let out a small giggle. "I don't need 'stuff', and I don't need some prince." Rapunzel pecked his cheek. "Right now, I only need _you_."

Eugene noticed that his fingers had stopped their shuddering. He no longer wanted to steal Rapunzel away, for she had given herself to him wholeheartedly.

• • •

For all the years to come, Eugene would always remember that day. Days, weeks, and years passed. Eugene and Rapunzel got married, eventually became the new rulers of Corona, and had children of their own. Eugene never felt the twitch in his hands again.

• • •

**A/N**: Sooooo much gooey gooey lovey goo. But I'm an absolute sap, so that's okay. :D I've been sitting on this story for months now; I wrote it ages ago but never thought it was good enough. I still think it's a bit too cliched, but oh well.

I named Imbria for a plain on the moon called the Mare Imbrium. I figured, hey, 'corona' is the atmosphere of the sun, so why not?

Eugene wants to steal Rapunzel. XD But he doesn't realize that he's already stolen her heart~~~~ (-brick'd for being a sap-)


	3. Morning

Just a little baby one. This started as the intro for a story, but then it evolved into a vignette of its own. xD

_Morning_

It had started as any other ordinary day would... As ordinary a day as someone who lived in a palace could have, anyway. Rapunzel woke with the sun, bouncing about all morning, before going into Eugene's room to wake him. It had become something of a late-morning-practically-afternoon ritual for the princess to sneak into his room and get him out of bed before he slept the day away. To Rapunzel, each new day was a grand opportunity, and every second wasted was a second you could never get back.

To Eugene, however, every day of his new life wasn't an opportunity, but a chance. Living the life of a thief means running on little to no sleep, and each day now presented the chance for him to catch up on years of uncaught Z's. He slept as much as possible, which would probably be hours more if an exceptionally bubbly girl didn't knock him out of dreamland practically every morning.

Rapunzel tiptoed down the hallway outside of Eugene's room, marble cool on her bare toes. She beamed at the guards outside his room, many more than outside hers, she noted. They glanced at each other with knowing smirks, familiar with this game the princess played with the ex-thief. She spaced her fingers evenly on one of the ornate wooden doors of Eugene's chamber and gently pushed it open, careful not to make a sound. Graceful as a cat, Rapunzel slunk to his bedside. The corners of her mouth upturned a bit when she peeked at his slumbering face. He looked so innocent, almost childlike, when he was sleeping. This had been her very first sight of him, though then he'd been rather more unconscious than asleep...

Choosing her movements carefully, she slowly climbed onto his bed and pulled herself up so she was standing.

Rapunzel took a deep breath and belted,

"EUGENE! WAKEUPWAKEUPEUGENEWAKEUP! WAKE UPPPPP! EUGENE WAKE UP WAKE UP!"

She began leaping up and down on his bed, gaining momentum with each bounce.

"WAAAAAKE UPPPPPPPP!"

The figure beneath her moved. He made an irritated noise, rolled over, and pulled a pillow over his head. Rapunzel thought he looked ridiculously silly, because his entire frame bounced with each jump. She thought she heard him mutter her name and hummed in questioning.

"..punzel," the pillow told her, "o 'way."

"Come on, sleepyhead!" She bounced extra hard. "It's practically lunchtime!"

"Mmmm 'ot 'ungry."

It would continue this way until Rapunzel's relentless annoyance finally broke Eugene's resolve to stay in bed until dinner. He would drag himself out of bed, and Rapunzel would send herself away once she made sure he was fully awake. Then they would meet in the dining hall for lunch, and plan out what was left of the day.

• • •

**A/N:** Told you it was a baby one. :) I'm just like Eugene. I will sleep all day if no one wakes me up, true story. I believe the longest amount of time I ever slept was 18 hours. Fell asleep at 2 in the morning and woke up at 8 that night. I wasn't even sick or particularly tired. I just like sleeping. 8D And I sleep like a grumpy rock, so first you have to somehow get me semi-conscious, then you have to persuade me to get out of bed. And oftentimes my dreams enter into my rebuttals. One time, years ago, my dad tried to get me to wake up and I told him that if I woke up then, the boat I was driving would crash. So I drove the boat to a dock and _then_ I woke up. :^D


End file.
